HIALEAH, Fla. — Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani praised rival Mike Huckabee for his win in the Iowa caucuses on Thursday — a contest Giuliani skipped — yet insisted his own early-state campaign could win over the long haul.

“I think we’re in good shape. We’re ahead in maybe 16, 18 of the 29 states that are coming up,” the former New York mayor said. “This was the first one. I think it’s one that, quite honestly, we didn’t expect that we would win. And we didn’t put a lot of resources into it. And now we’ll move on to the others.”

Giuliani holds an early lead in polls in Florida, which conducts its primary Jan. 29, and he hopes a strong showing here will offset poor results in early-voting states.

He said he thinks his early-state strategy will pay off “in that we’ve paid a lot of attention to states that some other candidates haven’t paid much attention to.”

“I think our message of being on offense against terrorism, having been tested by crisis, how to handle difficult problems, I think that message will succeed in a number of these primaries,” he said.

Earlier, Giuliani spoke to a rally of mostly Cuban-Americans, asking them for their help, votes and support on Jan. 29, in the tradition of another election that turned on the Sunshine State.

“I know how good you are at that because I’ve seen you pull us through,” Giuliani said. “Remember, it’s Florida that saved this country for the Republican Party in 2000.”

Giuliani is counting on winning the delegate-rich Sunshine State to offset poor showings in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Rivals Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and John McCain are focusing on those traditional states.

However, experts have questioned whether Giuliani’s campaign can survive a series of early losses, as well as Florida’s influence in the nomination process.